Once Upon a Time – The Queen is Dead

SPOILER ALERT!
After a week break, Once Upon a Time is back! We begin in Fairy Tale Land past, with a young Snow White learning about compassion and how to be a great leader from her mother. However, her mother takes ill and the prognosis doesn’t look too promising. One of the Queen’s servants, Johanna, tells Snow that medicine may not be able to save her, but magic can. She mentions a blue fairy in the middle of the forest and instructs Snow to go there at night if she hopes to save her mother.
In the forest, the Blue Fairy finds Snow, who explains the situation. The fairy gives her a magic candle. It will save her mother’s life, however, Snow must take the life of another for compensation as this is a dark magic that fairies are not allowed to use. As her mother stressed the importance of being good, Snow is unable to go through with it. The queen approves of Snow’s decision not to kill another, and shortly after, passes away. A funeral is held for the departed Queen. Once everyone leaves, the blue fairy descends, and upon landing, turns into Cora. Cora admits to having poisoned the Queen, all in an attempt to put Regina in her place. And, as we all know, that mission was successful.
In Storybrooke, Regina and Cora are out looking for the dagger to control the Dark One when Snow comes upon them in the forest and overhears their plan. She rushes back to town to tell David, who she finds unconscious. He had been knocked out by Hook, who retrieved his actual hook. Upon waking David, she tells about Cora and Regina’s plan and decides they need to get the dagger first. They contact Emma and Gold in New York, and he reluctantly tells them where the dagger is hidden: inside the clock overlooking the town. Snow and David go to retrieve it, but once it is in their possession, Cora and Regina materialize. Emma says she won’t give the dagger, but Cora is able to sway her through malice.
Later, Regina puts together that Cora planned everything from the start, from her meeting of Snow in the field, where she saved her from the runaway horse; to Regina marrying the king. It was all planned, Regina never had a say. Meanwhile, Snow decides she’s no longer going to be good. It’s time she kills Cora.
In New York, Neal is getting closer to Henry. At the apartment, Henry and Neal go upstairs to get a camera while Emma and Gold wait downstairs. Suddenly, Hook comes in and stabs Gold in the chest with his Hook before Emma knocks him out. Gold has now been poisoned and is going to die if they can’t get help. Unfortunately, the only help is back in Storybrooke. Gold says they can take the Jolly Roger (how Hook got to New York in the first place) as it is a very fast ship, and Neal admits that he can captain it. He then mentions that New York wasn’t his first stop after Storybrooke and that he should actually be well over 100 years old right now. (So he was Peter Pan or possibly a lost boy!) Right before they are able to leave, a woman comes up to Neal asking where he is going. Neal then introduces her to Emma as his fiancé.
This was an enjoyable episode overall. It was a little heavy on the melodrama, and much of the story arc was predictable. Of course we knew that Cora and Regina would obtain the dagger and that, with how everything has unfolded, Snow was going to hit a breaking point and make a character change. No one is 100% good ALL the time. What somewhat confuses me is that Regina is bent on getting Henry back. However, he doesn’t want her if she’s bad. So how are her current actions conducive to her end goal? I can see her being the one to end Cora down the road, if the predictability remains as it is. I’m also excited for the return of Neal to Storybrooke and learning about his past. I want to see Peter Pan!Rating: 3 out of 5 stars